falangevsfaltanteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: falange is a noun, faltante is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“falange” is a noun and “faltante” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,408
“falange” frequency rank
#38,118
“faltante” frequency rank
57526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature falange faltante
Definition Formación de batalla en la Grecia antigua, fundada por Filipo II, Rey de Macedonia; y perfeccionada por su hijo Alejandro el Magno. Que no existe donde debería.

Where the eye mixes falange and faltante

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. falange runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against faltante's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
falange
8 ch
faltante

Why the eye confuses falange with faltante

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: falange is [faˈlãŋxe] while faltante is [fal̪ˈt̪ãn̪t̪e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

falange is recorded at frequency rank #19,408, classified as anoun, pronounced [faˈlãŋxe]. faltante is at rank #38,118, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fal̪ˈt̪ãn̪t̪e].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 57526, this pair ranks #70,174 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of falange vs faltante

Shared letters: aefln. Private to "falange": g. Private to "faltante": t.

"falange" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "faltante" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • falange ← aflange · faalnge · falagne · falaneg · falangge · falannge · fallange · falnage
  • faltante ← afltante · falatnte · falltante · faltanet · faltannte · faltantte · faltatne · faltnate

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "falange" for "faltante" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "falange" is a noun and "faltante" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "falange" or "faltante" show up more?
"falange" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,408 in our Spanish list, against #38,118 for "faltante". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "falange" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faltante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,174 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "falange" and "faltante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faltante vs faltantes". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #70,174 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list